Don LeDuc

April 7, 1942 – May 24, 2025

Don LeDuc, former President and Dean of Thomas M. Cooley Law School, author, historian, birder, athlete, and patron of the arts and other charitable ventures, died peacefully on May 24, 2025 surrounded by family. He was 83 years old. The cause was pancreatic cancer.

Deeply committed to providing legal education to people from all walks of life, “Dean Don” spent fifty years educating Michigan’s lawyers and advocating for the principle that the practice of law should not be an elitist profession. Convincing the American Bar Association to permit weekend law degree programs, thereby increasing access to legal education, was perhaps his proudest achievement.

Don lived a rich and multi-faceted life rooted in decency, service, and hard work. He grew up in Lapeer, Michigan, the oldest child of Paul “Gus” LeDuc and Laura (Maxson) LeDuc. As the eldest, he often was put in charge of caring for his four younger siblings.

After earning his B.A. in History from Kalamazoo in 1964, Don graduated cum laude from Wayne State University Law School in 1967. He spent his early career in public service, serving as a Special Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice, working in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, then in the Executive Office of Governor William G. Milliken as the Law Studies Coordinator for the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. He became administrator for the Office of Criminal Justice Programs for the Michigan Department of Management and Budget in 1970. In 1975, he joined the faculty of the new Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he taught torts and administrative law and served two stints as its Dean (1982-1987, 1996-2018). He became Cooley’s second President in 2002, while continuing as Dean. He held both jobs until his retirement in 2018.

Don authored the treatise, Michigan Administrative Law, in 1993, updating it annually. His most recent work marries his love for the U.S. Constitution and U.S. history–in Restructured Constitution of the United States of America, he rethinks the structure of the Constitution based on writings of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison in the Federalist Papers. His proposed new structure seeks to increase clarity in Constitutional interpretation, particularly in regard to powers delegated by the Federal government to the States.

Don continued serving the public alongside his career at Cooley—focusing mostly in areas related to criminal justice. His work on the Michigan Corrections Commission from 1977 to 1984 made for some memorable family vacation stops over the years. His kids remember accompanying him on a tour of Kinross prison on the way to visit their grandparents, and once while driving down to Florida they stopped for his meeting at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility and found the snacks offered there to be surprisingly decent. His work in Corrections introduced him to his wife, Susan Coley, who worked for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

In 2001, Don promoted the founding of the Cooley Innocence Project as a means for law students to apply their legal skills by assisting those who were wrongfully imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. Since its inception, the Cooley Innocence Project has screened over 6,000 cases and is responsible for the exoneration of nine individuals.

Giving back to his own community was important to Don. Throughout his nearly 60 years in the Lansing area, he volunteered to serve on the boards of directors for the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP, Inc.), CATCH – Sparky Anderson’s Charity for Children, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, the Capital Area United Way, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, Cooley Clinic, Inc., and Sixty Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic. Don and his wife were also longtime patrons of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the Wharton Center.

A constant source of joy throughout Don’s life was sports. Whether it was playing baseball in the neighborhood park, teaching his siblings how to throw a football, coaching his kids’ soccer teams, or sitting in the stands watching his grandchildren’s games, he loved to participate however he could.

Many who only knew Don later in his life are unaware of his athletic talents. A multi-sport standout at Lapeer High School, the 5-foot-6-inch, 119-pound Don then went on to earn eleven varsity letters at Kalamazoo College between 1959 and 1964: four in football, four in baseball, two in track, and one in wrestling. He was a proud member of the Hornets’ 1962 MIAA Championship Football team and nurtured lifelong relationships with his beloved coach Rolla Anderson as well as with his Kalamazoo College teammates and friends. These lifelong relationships became multi-generational, with the children of the “K Group” growing up like cousins.

He later became what he described as a “decent” golfer, winning some local tournaments. In the 1970s, he and his brothers launched the LeDuc Olympics, a competition between the four brothers in golf, basketball, bowling, tennis, and billiards. The Games evolved into an annual family event, with LeDuc grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins all fiercely competing in teams of two–drawn by lot–in horseshoes, badminton, bocce, croquet, and euchre to win coveted trophies and family bragging rights.

Though his academic, athletic, and professional achievements were many, Don was a humble person who believed in the value of strength gained from testing one’s capacity. He recently reflected, “while losing is difficult, there is value in recognizing that someone else will ways be smarter, faster, stronger, better, more resolute, and more deserving. Only practice, competition, and the desire to be better and more competitive actually make us better. Those who have strived–whether winning or losing–understand that it is not the outcome that is most important, it is the striving.” And strive he did.

Don will also be remembered as an avid birder. No trip to Florida was complete without a trek through the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. No Christmas season passed without him sending out a cardinal-themed greeting card. Over the years, he amassed an impressive collection of fine art depicting songbirds, ducks, herons, and cranes.

Don LeDuc is survived by his wife, Susan Coley; daughter, Laura LeDuc; son, Alex LeDuc (Caroline Dorsen); grandchildren, Claudia LeDuc, Mateo LeDuc, Conrad Moyer, and Rolla Olin Moyer; sister, Sara Wolf; brothers, Dan LeDuc, Kevin LeDuc (Mary Louise Schneider), and Reed LeDuc (Doreen LeDuc); mother-in-law, Jan Coley; brothers- and sisters-in-law, Michael Coley & Terri Petrucci Coley and Sarah Coley Hilburn & Rob Hilburn; nieces and nephews, Caity Luter Davis, Carly Wolf McLaughlin, Wayne LeDuc, Marc LeDuc, Katie Galang, Mikala Coley, Nicola Coley, Grant Hilburn, and Genevieve Hilburn; nine grand nieces and nephews; his “K” family: Carl & Karen Bekofske, Gordon & Gail Rodwan, Frances Hackney, Michael & Betty Moore, Jim Harkema; and former wife, Susan LeDuc.

Don did not wish to have a funeral or memorial service, instead opting for his family to host a party to celebrate his life at a future date.

He chose two deserving local charities for those who wish to make a memorial donation:

Stoneleigh Residence & Hospice of Lansing

https://crm.bloomerang.co/HostedDonation?ApiKey=pub_90425878-dc54-11e7-afbe-024e165d44b3&WidgetId=3188736

Lansing Symphony Orchestra

https://tickets.lansingsymphony.org/TheatreManager/1/login?donation=0

Arrangements are by the Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel.